Ugo Rondinone - Contemporary Art Evening Sale New York Thursday, November 13, 2014 | Phillips

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  • Provenance

    Gladstone Gallery, New York

  • Catalogue Essay


    "I don't have to understand an artwork through linguistic conventions; I have only to feel it.” Ugo Rondinone, 2013

    DRITTERJUNIZWEITAUSENDUNDELF (3. June, 2011), 2011, dazzles the viewer with a magnificent, star-studded night sky. Sprays of white pigment dance across the celestial sphere in beautiful and rhythmic formations. Once in the presence of something so emblematically eternal, our own existence is put into perspective. As we dive into the surface of Rondinone’s works, we are suddenly forced to contend with humanity’s reliance on forces beyond our control as a determining factor in our own fate. The present lot challenges us to reconcile an immersive experience with our perceived traditions through forcing them into coexistence. The work is part of the larger series, La Vie Silencieuse (The Silent Life), and in many ways stands in direct contrast to Rondinone’s earlier works, some most notably comprised of neon pigments in concentric circles. While equally absorbing in their visual splendor, the relationship between these sublime works and their psychedelic counterparts may not be easily identifiable; however, it is their definitive titles which reveal each respective date of origin, and cause the two bodies of work to collide in thematic unity.

    Despite their stylistic dissimilarities, there are deep-seated convergences in Rondinone’s many hands. Through playful interaction between title and visual realization, Rondinone successfully draws attention to the disparity between content and form, exterior appearance and interior essence. Each canvas’s individuality lies in the variations of each starry night on which they were conceived. They depend on the unique qualities of the evening in which the painting was created. The series, in effect, equates to a controlled experiment in which the dependent variable is the artistic product. The series’ varied celestial patterns lend each canvas its own individual rhythm and intensity. As a twenty-first century still life, DRITTERJUNIZWEITAUSENDUNDELF (3. June, 2011), 2011, embraces both an objective environment and an inner mental landscape, suspending and locating us in time and space. As we gaze at the present lot – with its frosted surface set against a sapphire vault – we are truly lost in its ethereal and exquisite brilliance.

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DRITTERJUNIZWEITAUSENDUNDELF (3. June, 2011)

2011
acrylic on canvas, Plexiglas plaque with caption
110 x 84 in. (279.4 x 213.4 cm)
Signed and dated "Ugo Rondinone 2011" on the reverse.

Estimate
$150,000 - 200,000 

Sold for $149,000

Contact Specialist
Amanda Stoffel
Head of Evening Sale
New York
+ 1 212 940 1261

Contemporary Art Evening Sale

New York Auction 13 November 2014 7pm